Khyri Thomas filled his statline with 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals.
MBB Minute – Creighton Moves Into Third Place, Xavier Can Be Co-Champions Tonight
Creighton moved into sole possession of third place - at least for a day - with an 82-57 victory over DePaul on Tuesday. Tonight No. 3 Xavier has a chance to become at least BIG EAST Co-Champions. The Wednesday schedule includes three games.
On Senior Night at CenturyLink Center, Marcus Foster scored a game-high 20 points in the win against DePaul. Khyri Thomas filled his stat line with 16 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals. The Bluejays have won 10 or more league games in 19 of the past 21 seasons. Creighton (21-9, 10-7) moved out of a four-way way tie and into third place in the league standings, though all three "9-7" teams - Seton Hall, Butler and Providence play Wednesday.
The night begins with Xavier hosting Providence on FS1 at 6:30 p.m. ET tonight. The Musketeers, with a 13-3 BIG EAST mark, can clinch a tie for the regular-season title with a victory. Providence won the first meeting between the two teams this season 81-72 against then-No. 5 Xavier on Jan. 6.
No. 4 Villanova, one game behind Xavier at 12-4 and the winner of the last four regular-season crowns, plays at Seton Hall in the second game of the FS1 doubleheader a little after 8:30 p.m. Both teams are coming off overtime games on Saturday. The Wildcats lost at Creighton 89-83 and the Pirates beat St. John's at Madison Square Garden 81-74. Seton Hall has won nine of their last 17 games against ranked opponents and have three top-25 wins this season.
Butler plays St. John's at Carnesecca Arena at 9 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The Bulldogs have taken six of the last seven meetings, but the loss came last year at Carnesecca when the Red Storm won 76-73 against then No. 13 Butler. The Bulldogs won comfortably in the first meeting this season, 70-45 on Jan. 27 when Shamorie Ponds scored only two points. Since that game, Ponds has averaged 29.1 ppg. Butler's Kelan Martin leads the BIG EAST in scoring in league play with a 23.3 average.